Should genetic information be available to insurers?

[MRT144]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
Why should the insurance company care about that as long as they get paid? Keep in mind I'm not talking about pre-existing conditions here.

it depends on whether the insurance company is actually getting paid or not. it tends to be that when you're working, a company will provide insurance for you. and as long as you keep working they keep getting paid.

[MRT144]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
According to MRT's theory, age would be considered a genetic malays.

pretty much. but this what a tax free account for medical expenses in old age is for

[Zkribbler]

BTW: The word is "malaise."

"Malays" are citizens of Malaysia.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Arrian
mrt,

The insuring agreement in insurance policies is typically about "indemnification" - that is, to make one whole.

Thus, paying for non-emergency care like rehabbing after a surgery is most certainly what the insurance is for.

Frankly, I'm not sure what you're on about here, other than ripping on people who get hurt.

-Arrian

I'd like to mention that I agree insurance companies can/should pay for even routine things like checkups, since they reduce the probability of needing expensive and/or emergency care.

[MRT144]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker


I'd like to mention that I agree insurance companies can/should pay for even routine things like checkups, since they reduce the probability of needing expensive and/or emergency care.

preventive health measures are a good thing. too bad most people don't take advantage of them.

[Odin]

NO!

It would lead insurance companies dumping anyone with "bad" genetics.

[Odin]

Originally posted by Zkribbler
This thread misses the key point. [b]Insurers should not be involved in providing health care.]/b]

Insureres are the key reason that, in the industrialized world, the U.S. has the highest cost of health care, the shortest lifespans, the highest rate of infant mortality, and the highest percentage of people with no health coverage.

The purpose of health care should be to get sick and injured people healthy. The purpose of insurance is to make a profit by insuring healthy people and refusing coverage to sick people.

We in the U.S. have a sick and perverted system of providing health care, which does not work, and which is getting worse with each tick of the clock.

American health insureance companies are like a person who lends you his umbrella when it's sunny and asks for it back when it starts raining.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Odin
NO!

It would lead insurance companies dumping anyone with "bad" genetics.

Duh. Like credit card companies not accepting people with bad credit...

[Kataphraktoi]

Why should genetic information be available to anyone but the person him\herself? This would be an outragous violation of privacy-allowing the insurance company access to medical history is the limit to me. Whats the difference between rejecting someone based on genetic defects and rejecting based on skin color? I dont see one.

This is just the same as those ideas for implanting chips in people, ostensibly for the persons benefit.

[Kuciwalker]

Why should genetic information be available to anyone but the person him\herself? This would be an outragous violation of privacy-allowing the insurance company access to medical history is the limit to me.

The person doesn't have to buy insurance from that company.

Whats the difference between rejecting someone based on genetic defects and rejecting based on skin color? I dont see one.

How about the fact that people with certain genetic defects are dramatically more likely to require expensive medical care, while the same isn't true of people with certain skin colors?

[Kuciwalker]

Restricting what information insurance companies can ask for is not only dumb, but a hidden tax on healthy people to subsidize everyone else's healthcare wrapped in the rhetoric of "privacy." There's nothing inherently wrong with government-subsidized healthcare, but it should be done honestly and efficiently, not through economic inefficiencies deliberately introduced into the system by politicians playing off of the naive fears of the public.

[Blake]

All people are created equal.

Except those shafted by hereditary illnesses, they should get shafted TWICE!

edit: Of course this is mainly a statement about how wrongheaded it is to use insurance to pay for healthcare, exactly as Zkribbler said.

[Kuciwalker]

Excuse me, I think I was the first person to point that out

(in this thread)

[Kataphraktoi]

How about the fact that people with certain genetic defects are dramatically more likely to require expensive medical care, while the same isn't true of people with certain skin colors?

White people may be more likely to get skin cancer. After all blacks are more suited for sunny weather. So its possible only giving health insurance to blacks may decrease payouts Although this would lead to less overall $.

Also people in certain countries like russia have so little sunlight-and are quite white-that they may not get sufficent vitamins and be unhealthy(yes, i know they have facilities for that) So its possible if a extremely pale\white person came in they might have a higher chance of being unhealthy.



Im talking about tiny miniscule differences here.
Miniscule but still the same thing.

[Kataphraktoi]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker

Why should genetic information be available to anyone but the person him\herself? This would be an outragous violation of privacy-allowing the insurance company access to medical history is the limit to me.

The person doesn't have to buy insurance from that company.

Sure, and all insurance companies will be using that policy.